President Granger just dropped the other foot on the “Affaire GECOM Chair”. To be fair, that foot had been up in the air since early January, when he rejected Opposition Leader Jagdeo’s first list. At that time, he said the applicable Art 161 (2) mentioned the word “judge” four times, and therefore it had to mean only a “judge” was “fit and proper”.
That qualification for being a “judge” to fill the position was the criterion during the routinely rigged elections of 1968. The clause “or any other fit and proper person” was added in 1992 to create a wider pool, but drew a blank from the President. Even the empirical facts that only one of the GECOM Chairs since 1992 could have been a Judge — and that he himself had been proposed as a candidate without his objection — did not deter the President from his insistence for a judge.
Two months later, in March, the President apparently relented when he expanded on “qualities that the candidate to be Chairman of the GECOM should possess.” Among the requirements were, inter alia, that the individual must not be an activist of any form (gender, racial, religious, etc); that the person must have no political affiliation; and that the person should have the general characteristics of honesty, integrity, faithfulness, and diligence.
The Opposition Leader duly submitted a second list in May, in which he included a retired Justice and three lawyers who were “qualified to be a judge”. A month later, this second list was also rejected by the President, even though some were “Judge-qualified material” and not “activists” or “politically affiliated”. Presumably, they lacked the “general characteristics of honesty, integrity, faithfulness, and diligence.”
But the President soon explained he had actually applied another test: “Every member of the list suggested must conform to the criteria, and you cannot put on the list a person who does not conform.” In other words, one bad apple would spoil the entire list. But the President magnanimously expanded: “I’m prepared to work with the Leader of the Opposition for as long as it takes to have somebody selected who fits the criteria, satisfies the Constitution, and is one that the people of Guyana could be happy with.”
In the meantime, a concerned businessman took the matter to the High Court for a definitive judicial pronouncement on the criteria to be applied by the President and the Opposition Leader, to conform with Art 161 (2), which was delivered orally in July.
Issuing a declaratory order, the Chief Justice (ag) said the Opposition Leader’s nominees did not have to be Judges or be qualified to be Judges; and the President “ought to” (not “shall”) provide reasons for the rejection of names, since this would assist the Opposition Leader in selecting nominees.
President Granger replied, however, “The Chief Justice gave an appointment based on her perception of the law, and I will continue to act based on my perception of the Constitution…” The President was rejecting the Court’s pronouncements as binding on his actions.
The Chief Justice, however, went on to invoke the caveat to Art 161(2): to suggest that if the President rejects all the names, he can go on to select anyone he deems to be “fit and proper”. This question was not placed before her, and legal commentators deemed it “dicta”, and non-binding.
Meanwhile, in August, the Opposition Leader submitted a third list, which included a former GECOM Chair. This last list was rejected by the President on Diwali Night, October 19th, when he unilaterally appointed the 84-yeal-old former Justice James Patterson. The President had declared just the night before that each person should “light a light” to remove the darkness that can envelop so many areas of our personal and collective lives. It appears he was only giving lip service to the words he had uttered, since even the Chief Justice has advised the need for “dialogue and compromise”. He had wanted a judge from the beginning, there was never going to be “a compromise”. He actually “outed” a light, and enlarged the darkness enveloping the Guyanese people.
The Hindu leaders gathered at State House have now to feel a sense of betrayal.
